Chapter 47
.
.
AN: While most of what comes next is my own, there is one segment that I had to borrow as soon as I saw it in someone else's fic. I'd like to thank Dobanachi for letting me copy his small, too perfect to ignore, segment. No spoilers now, but you'll be there when you meet Mr Springer. At which point, you should understand why it was too perfect not to put in.
In any case, this is a quite... unique chapter. It was never meant to be this long but once I started writing it it just would not stop coming out. So, I very much enjoyed creating it, but as to whether people will have as much fun reading it... That's something I'd genuinely be curious about.
I'd also like to thank those who fed back about Catano's last scene, which fed into an addition to the start of this one that the good guys at the ZAA readthrough enjoyed. -So, your feedback is listened to, and as said before I'd be interested on feedback on this chapter too.
.
"-While we haven't identified who the fox who posed as the young anonymous vulpine is, or traced the call back to an individual, I want to warn all individuals involved in this that the ZPD will not take such interference in its investigations lightly. We will look into this and, if we find you, you will pay the price."
Catano looked on at the live streaming video, Chief Bogo up on a podium and facing a small gaggle of press mammals. There were a few camera flashes before the great cape buffalo, as usual seemingly against his inner desires, opened the floor to questions.
"To what extent does this impede the case against the fox in question?"
Bogo nodded. "While the delay was small, given the ease of running the picture through facial recognition software, it was still a delay."
"Are the ZPD treating this as an Antivulpistic hate crime?"
The Chief closed his eyes and took a deep breath in and out "As of now, we don't know the motives of the creators of this fraud. It could be prankster, it could be a hate act as specified, it could have been done by the potential true culprit of the crime as an attempt to mislead the ZPD away from himself. All we do know for sure is that an amendment to the Nighthowler Act, that would have clarified that the detention without charge clause doesn't apply to youth suspects, lost the vote it was expected to win this morning. If the perpetrator intended to make sure that the vulpine is kept in custody, they succeeded."
"Given that this picture was a deep-fake, when might the young fox be released?"
"Calling it a deep fake is giving it too much credit," Bogo spoke. "As before, the young fox is in prison under the Nighthowler Act, as ordered by the DA, a decision we at the ZPD strongly disagree with. Unless we find exculpatory evidence, we would require the DA to change his mind or the act in question to be amended. From what I gather, unless the Mayor intervenes, City Council rules mean that the failed amendment can't be voted on again for another three months."
A female voice cut in. "Is this a criticism of the council and/or its policies?"
Catano, for a second, thought she saw a small smile flicker on Bogo's mouth. "Just the facts, Ma'am."
Another question was raised, but Catano closed the window before it could be answered. Sitting at her desk, the big cat couldn't help but sigh. She did feel terribly for Kris, she still remembered how he'd held on to his father and tried to stay strong through it all. Likewise, she did not like that hippo one bit for what he'd done, and for the theatre he'd made of it. She knew full well that he was playing it all up for a particularly nasty set of mammals.
But, what he was playing was stuff that was at the end of the day technically true. Bent, blown up, played with gratuitous winks to that audience, but, ultimately true…
And right at the heart of her, that seemed a good few steps above a certain other mammal, of the honey badger species. One who'd be happy to create absolute nonsense, building a theatre of lies in which her play to her equally bad audience could play out.
In her view, he was distasteful. She was abhorrent. She'd seen two victims, one for each of them, and however much she felt the fox had been treated unfairly, what was being done to the ewe was deplorable. The way they were twisting her mind to hate herself just felt far sicker, in the same way that a rape case was infinitely more disgusting than a regular assault. She…
Taking a breath in and out she grumbled. What really got her though was that now, according to someone who she'd once respected, even admired, and thought she could put her trust into, that was all in the past. Forget all the harm that had been done, the mammal behind it all had 'changed' and should thus be forgiven. Heck, befriend her, sing her praises, she was a good guy now, screw what she'd said about sheep, she was helping the foxes and that was much more important.
It reminded her of a story her old superior officer had once told her, back when she was a rookie a few months into the job. About, when he himself was young, he and a bunch of other mammals had been assigned to help protect a doctor. The mammal in question had been a cosmetic surgeon who'd graduated right in the middle of the devil-facial tumour epidemic in Outback Island. Tasmanian devil culture often had them biting and nipping each other like mammals would shake paws, all well and good until, in a one-in-a billion strike of catastrophic luck, one mammal developed a highly aggressive mouth-cancer. One that was then spread, bite by bite, devil to devil, in a time when cancer treatments were far less advanced.
By the time the city realised what was going on and ordered quarantines and testing, an entire fifth of the species on the island were infected, entire families condemned with a terminal illness. Many of those who caught it early could still be saved, but the process involved merciless excissions to try and remove any trace before it could metastase. In doing so, it gave the doctor a massive new market, one that had made him rich.
Catano had asked what was bad about that, and her old partner had said that wasn't the issue, but he believed it was where the doctor had gotten his idea. While he'd made a lot of money, there weren't that many Tasmanian devils in the grand scheme of things. But what if there was another 'DFT', albeit with a different species? Of course, he couldn't just magic up a new transmissible cancer, but he'd gained a lot of respect across the city for his work, so why not make up some new health scare? One that couldn't be wiped out, like DFT; one for a common species, living across the city; one that both the species and the wider public could get behind, no complaints.
So, he'd started his new career, talking about the miracle of scent gland removals for skunks. Skunks who had them removed did better at work, better at school, they made more friends, they had more energy, they were less likely to develop all sorts of issues going on, and so forth. None of it was true, but the skunks believed him. After all, why would such a respected member of their own species lie?
And so, over ten to twenty years, the number of scent gland removals skyrocketed. Indeed, by the end ninety percent of parents would take their kits to have the things removed when they were still newborns. There were some who complained, some who stood up against the mutilation of their own species, but they were often increasingly ridiculed from inside and out. After all, many other mammals thought of it as 'a good idea.' More often than not, they'd point to that very skunk doctor and all his articles and then tv-spots, saying that gland removal was the right thing to do. Heck, it was the only thing to do! Think of the children you bad mammal!
And then, the exposé broke. The removals did nothing. The occasional infection meant that, health wise, it was technically worse for them, while the number of skunks being mugged or attacked shot right up. Indeed, it was a death threat from a skunk who'd lost his de-glanded daughter to a mugger that had resulted in him being put under police protection. There was anger, calls for him to resign, to be stripped of his license but, for the next few years, he kept promoting the benefits of gland removal. And then, when the risks to him started to really get credible, he retired.
A few years later, after 'finding God' he was back, preaching that skunks were made as the creator wished, should remain that way, and that his previous actions were wrong. He said he sought forgiveness for them, while making some minor words to stop the procedure. To this day though, one in five newborn skunks had their glands removed. While that doctor had said he was 'sorry' and asked for 'forgiveness', he still lived in the mansion his work had built him, all while it carried on, generations after. His words still had impacts and, regardless of what he said and how he said he was wrong, mammals were still getting mutilated to this day.
Her superior had asked her what she thought about it and Catano had said that there were some things that couldn't be forgiven. Whatever he said about 'believing he was doing the right thing' and 'wanting a better world for us all', he'd spread this idea that would outlast him for decades, maybe even centuries, all for his own profit. He couldn't simply wash his paws of it, could he?
Her superior had nodded and said there was something else he wanted her to know. He was a water deer, not that she'd know it, given the lack of his species' iconic fangs. Indeed, his emigrée parents, thinking they were doing the right thing to help him fit in, had them removed when he was a fawn. Something that was always a painful issue to him, due to his feeling that he'd been robbed of something truly unique and important to his identity. So, he'd naturally been pretty critical and cold to this doctor, yet those others on his roster had been very friendly. He was a good host, they became friends, they ignored any of the issues about him and would bug her superior to get over it already. Even if he had an issue, he said he was sorry and besides, far fewer officers were getting skunk sprayed now so what was the problem in the first place?
A problem, not that her superior knew it at the time, was that skunk musk actually had a number of uses. Both as an early form of mace, still popular to this day, and in a number of different chemical formulas. With so many skunks de-glanded though, the supply had dipped down hard, all while demand, often from de-glanded skunks buying scent cans, had shot up. The result was a price boom for skunk musk, which should have been good news for those still with glands.
It should have been...
A few years later, one of those officers who'd protected the doctor and been friendly had turned up dead, burnt to a crisp in a warehouse on the docks. A warehouse where, to exploit the demand for musk, hundreds of captive skunks were forcibly milked for it. They'd all been saved, the reports believing that a bunch of enforcers from the local mafias had struck the place down, the criminals united in the horror at something too evil even for them. It sounded fanciful, but then again there were also legends here and there that it was a single masked vigilante that had done it, fanciful in extremis. In any case though, that enterprise would have never worked were it not for the conditions set up by that doctor. He was indirectly responsible for it, at the very least.
What was most chilling though was that many of the skunks belonged to a list of those the doctor, in his gland removing heyday, had phoned up and enquired to but had then (or their parents had) refused. A list he still kept. A list that he said the corrupt cop must have copied while they were together. Nothing was proven in court. But her superior still remembered how close they'd been, corrupt cop and corrupt doctor, and how chummy they were even after, the former often inviting the latter on expensive holidays or meals out.
Nothing was ever proven, but her superior knew what had gone down. He'd told her two things back then.
One, that words and even some deeds can mean nothing. A mammal asking for forgiveness may have never changed and, even if they have, they may well not deserve it. What they did can carry on causing pain well after they stopped or are gone, and it was up to good cops like them to make sure they at least taste justice.
And two. You can often tell a lot about a mammal by the company they keep, and who they do or do not defend.
And now, the way she saw it, a mammal had spent years riling up hatred against sheep, causing misery that she had seen with her own eyes was now, reportedly, 'better'. Only, Catano felt that, even if she was sincere, she didn't deserve the forgiveness for all the pain and ovinophobia she had and would carry on causing.
-And she wasn't allowed to have this opinion, was she? Her frown deepened. According to the great Judy Hopps, she wasn't allowed to be concerned about ovinophobia, or hold it against that ratel.
No!
Ovinophobia was a non-issue, being concerned about it meant that the hippo was gaslighting you, you couldn't be trusted to come up with your own opinions, could you?
She felt her teeth grind together.
All coming from the bunny who felt it was okay to befriend that mammal, who was happy to vouch for her, who believed that everything was okay given that 'she'd changed.' The bunny who, even before that, had been friends with mobsters.
Her old superior's words rang in her head once more. She didn't want Judy to be like that, she very much hoped that she just had a terrible naivety with choosing her friends instead. But that, in a way, made her attitude before even more grating.
At the very least, she thought the idea that you couldn't be speciesist against sheep was as stupid as it sounded. But, then again, she knew there were lots of mammals who'd say that things like calling a fox a pelt was wrong, but felt they were perfectly right in refusing them service in their ice cream shop. Like all things, that could go both ways, couldn't it?
Idly, she let her paws type into the Ewetube search bar. Her eyes glanced down and paused as they saw a newly uploaded video. She looked on as she saw the honey badger pictured on the news, unmasked, look out.
With a heavy dose of trepidation, she pressed play.
"Hello," she said, looking out with red eyes. "Well, this is me. Gruinard Gal… -My name is actually Honey Badger by the way. -saying that I figure you lot will ask, so I might as well answer, my cubhood was pretty rough… Maybe that contributed to… what I became." Catano gave her a sceptical stare as she took a breath in. "I… I was wrong," she said, sniffing. "I was ill, and all that. I had to be locked up in an asylum to be treated. I got these pills…" She showed them up. "They help stop my personality going crazy. Like it was before. Like when I thought they are the root of all evil and all that." She began sniffing some more. "And I'm sorry! I'm sorry for lying, for saying these things and causing such harm! I'm…" She sniffed again. "I… I misled you. I made you think sheep were all terrible, and made you all mean to them and all that, and it was wrong. And I'm sorry, I… I'm sorry for making you think these things, making you believe it was right, and… and splitting up your families, making you think that it was something worth paying the price for! I… Forget about the sheep, they're just mammals, and don't be mean to them okay! And go back to your families, and say you were wrong, it's okay, it's all on me… Go back to the ones who you loved, and don't feel bad that I messed you up. We… We still have time to be good mammals, guys and gals. I…" She breathed in and out. "Just go forget about me, and live a good life, and don't be mean to sheep. Bye… For the last time."
…
"That's it?"
Catano scrolled down. The video had far more dislikes than likes, most of the comments said that the channel had been hacked or Gruinard Gal had been sent to 'The Ministry of Cud'. Her tail flicked hard at that one.
It wasn't enough. It just wasn't. The bottle had been opened, the genie was out, the scent glands were being removed and would carry on being removed. It wasn't like she'd dropped a smoking cigarette butt and sparked a forest fire, she'd conducted a firebombing campaign and was now trying to sign it off as an 'oops, my bad.' It came off just as insincere as the stories of the doctor 'finding god'.
Something else about the video just felt… off… It took a second or two for it to click, but when it did she had to rewatch it all just to check.
She never said sorry to the sheep.
There was nothing there for Maisy.
Instead it was either about her or her followers, acting as if they were the victims, they were the one needing the apology, rather than the entire species she'd spent her career slandering. And even if she had, would it be enough?
She'd pushed it all past the event horizon.
Would anything be enough?
She sighed, glancing down before, by chance, her eyes spotted another video: 'A Calculated counter to Kurt Wassermaim' by 'D-Baa Dude.' Out of curiosity she clicked it, not knowing that, in a room in an office block in the city centre, a dik-dik was doing just the same for the benefit of a hyena and red panda.
All watched on as the video played.
.
The hippo in question appeared on screen, an old news clip playing out. "Hey," he said, shrugging and smiling before his eyes narrowed. In he leant, poking a finger out. "It's justice." It flashed to another, recent, clip. "I'm doing to them what you do to others." Another fast cut. "I'm not speciesist, I'm an equalist!" Another cut, faster, and on both sets of viewing mammals thought that it was getting sped up. "Oh, of course you'd say that." No, it was definitely getting faster and faster and faster. "Yeah, prove it! I'm for pred and prey. -Stopping the bad guys. -Treating them fairly. -I'm fair. -For the good of all of us. -I actually respect preds. -No, you made this a pred prey thing. -Of course you'd call me that. -Prove it. -Say it as it is. -Tell the truth. -Tell the truth!"
And then, it cut to a simple bedroom, filmed via a webcam. Into it, dropped a perfectly ordinary looking white ram. "Hey there," he said, "I'm a black sheep. It's the facts!" He gave a big wide grin, before his eyes narrowed. "Oh really, where's your proof that I'm not?" Hooves on hips, he leant in. "Hmmmmm… Of course you'd say that. I think you'll find I'm the one telling the truth there. Unlike you I look at the evidence. Oh, that's right out there, easy to see. You're just not seeing it. I am a black sheep. You're just saying I'm a white sheep as you got cucked by an albino and want to put me down!"
And then, with an edited bleep, it cut back to before. The sheep came in again and sat down. "If there's one, just one thing, that I agree with Kurt Wassermaim, it's this. You should tell it as it is. And, unlike him, I'll actually be doing that."
Back in Yakatomi plaza, both Haida and Retsuko looked on, smiling. "This is gonna be fun," the red panda said, relieved. Her hyena boyfriend nodded. It was going to be cheap shots… though being a punk rock fan his ultimate preference tended to be very rude hand gestures and lyrics that couldn't be broadcast until after nine-pm. Regardless, he could certainly enjoy this. Catano meanwhile tried to keep an open mind, she wanted to learn stuff after all. Still, while she didn't particularly find it funny, the parody did put a small smile on her face.
A black title screen then appeared. 'Chapter 1: Pred and Prey'
"Let's do the straight take, just to make sure everyone is up to speed here. This is the original divide, before nationalism, before religion, even before classism. Pred and prey, prey and pred, for two simple reasons. Firstly, one outnumbers the other ten-fold. Secondly, the larger group can easily accuse the other of an 'original sin', use it to stoke fear, and thus persecute the smaller group, as they have done for hundreds of years. Simple as that."
"Yeah," Haida nodded, at least a bit impatiently. "Tell us what we don't know."
Catano meanwhile nodded along, but couldn't help but think of that fact that many predators she'd seen who'd argued that they were superior. Thinking on a bit further, many higher status mammals in the past were preds, ruling over prey. Once upon a time, the greatest civilization on earth, stretching from the North Africa to the Levant and to Howldrians wall, had been ruled by big preds, having been founded by two wolves, hadn't it? Of course, that didn't mean prey weren't capable in that regard either. The greatest land nations ever had been ruled by horses. Meanwhile, on this continent (or rather the one to the south), the two greatest civilizations had been led by llamas for the one and (quite murderously) by jaguars for the other.
Regardless, D-Baa Dude carried on. "Of course, many people incorrectly say that we're well past that." It then flipped, showing him dressed like an aristocrat, complete with a fake mustache and a mock posh accent. "Well, well well, I do believe this is ancient history right about now. We've all moved past it, and our civilization has matured and left it behind us. Indeed, we can now talk about more important things, such as that very, very, very important new tax cut to the super rich like me. Which I do promise will trickle down to you plebeians this time."
In Yakatomi Plaza Tsundo chuckled, Retsuko nodded, while Haida thought it a bit lame and tame. Catano just thought it awkward, and was thankful as the sheep went back to 'normal mode.' "But they're wrong and I'm right, the end," he announced grandiosely, before taking a bow and walking off the stage.
…
"Uhhh," Retsuko began, as all the others looked on in a state of confusion.
Then, with a cut, he was back on the screen. "Sorry, I wanted to do that joke for so long. Anyway, the fact is I am right, and in this video I'll prove as much going on. But, for now, remember that it is still with us," he continued, "it has always been with us. But, because we think it has gone, we've let it grow again. A new breed of hate mongers has emerged. Some are obvious, some are hidden, some hide everything up in a plausible deniability of humour, while others still feign a mock ignorance and claim that they're on the right side of history, while generally being full of it."
Retsuko nodded. "Yup, there's our hippo."
Catano silently agreed that it was probably a nail on the header about Wassermaim.
On it went, a black screen with 'Chapter 2: The nighthowler crisis' appeared, before the host took over once more.
"While some may have tried to deny it before, there can be no argument made after what happened over in Zootopia." Both sides watched on as a map zoomed down to their city state, jutting out on its peninsular into the Pacific from the California-Oregon border. "To be fair, it would have to have been in Zootopia over anywhere else. This place was founded by a bunch of 'civilized speciesists' after all." A picture of a poster for the 'Omnibus Locis' society was displayed, with a slogan underneath. 'Society is a glorious machine. All species have their perfect place. In Zootopia, may you take it and prosper.' Surrounding it, illustrations showed bunnies farming, beavers carpenting, elephants doing unironically glorified digging and lemmings at work on power assisted typewriters.
Haida and Retsuko both viewed it as a twee, very much old fashioned curiosity, Tsunoda unable to stop herself cringing a bit from the sheer dorkiness of it. Catano felt a little bit of defensiveness for her homeland, even while knowing it was flawed. She knew full well that the old 'every mammal has their place' ideology was both outdated and, fundamentally, flawed. At the same time though, she felt it a bit of a cop-out to ignore the fact that, though heavily mistaken, the mammals who found it were at least trying to build a better world.
"I mean," the ewetuber carried on, "it hasn't changed much since then. This is a country that still allows not just the sale of 'defensive sprays,' but ones advertised as being against specific species!" Again, the group at Yakatomi plaza nodded in strong agreement, while Catano felt the author was being highly selective of the truth. After all, they were illegal to make or sell in Zootopia proper. It was in the Tri-burrows, with their devolved government and laws, that it was made. She certainly didn't agree with it, but he was again shortchanging her homeland.
Another skit began playing out, Baa Dude playing the part of a mother sending her lambs off to camp, talking to a councillor as she did so. "Now this here is some anti-mosquito spray for Mike, he hates mossies, you know? And Shaun is scared of spiders, so here's some spray for those. And Brianne just can't stand bears, so here's some Bear-B-Gone I got her too."
Retsuko looked up, holding Haida's paw. "Is there a hyena-haze or something?" she asked softly.
"I've encountered it a few times," he said, shrugging before sneering. "Stupid lions…"
"I mean," D-Baa went on. "Do you even know the kind of adverts they had for this stuff?"
And then the video flickered, a beep was heard, and an old advert began to play, complete with a flickering vhs fizz. All watchers were thrown into decades old cgi, a rabbit made out of less polygons than he should have digits standing about.
"Rabbits, hares, are you tired of foxes harassing you?" A fox model glided onto the screen, one rigid arm rotating up from the shoulder before whacking down on the bunnies head, a cartoon sound effect sounding out. "They say they're not all bad." Now it was the rabbits turn to be gliding along, past a fox sitting down, eating a two-cube constructed fried chicken drumstick with cubic particles spewing out. Its eyes passive aggressively fixed themselves on the bunny moving past, brown cubes accumulating on its white... surface. "But it sure seems most of them are!"
Finally, a bunny sitting down was ambushed by two t-posing foxes, grabbing its ears as dislocated groans came out. An errant Wilhelm scream was stuck in as its ears were torn off, geysers of blood spouting out, covering the entire screen red. In the one well edited part of the advert, the red then swept away, revealing a real life bunny, broadly built, well dressed, and with an aggressive 'I'm a big bun' look hidden under his otherwise homely face. "My fellow lapines! We shouldn't need to live in fear of our oldest enemies! We now have a product that will ensure those bullies keep their distance! Introducing, Springer's Fox Repellent!" Out came the offending bottle. "Springer's Fox Repellent is specially formulated based on modern zoology's most current and updated knowledge of vulpine biology to maximize discomfort for your harasser!"
Back to the cgi, and the rabbit was spraying the fox. Down the vulpine analogous model went, rolling back and forth while badly cut screams played over and over, the break point as painfully obvious as the now red eyes.
"Just one spray with Springer's Fox Repellent, and those foxes will be incapacitated, and then they'll know what it's like to feel small and preyed-upon! And it doesn't just work on red foxes!"
Cutting to a montage, it showed up a picture of a corsac fox. "It works on asian foxes." Then a bengal fox. "Indian foxes." A gray fox. "The other Indian foxes." A Blanford's fox. "Middle-eastern foxes." A fennec. "African foxes." And then an arctic fox. "Even Eskimo foxes."
It went on to pitch the other anti-species sprays, all while the watchers looked at each other, not sure whether they should be laughing or crying at… that…
"Anyway," D-Baa dude summed up. "Aside from being concerned that they merged speciesism and racism into babies' first cgi project, shall we move on?" Back to his usual voice, he began narrating as a series of news reports, both local and international, began playing. All were clips from the height of the crisis, a grim reminder of a darker time. "The nighthowler plot itself was orchestrated by a small clique of well educated, high society, upper class prey, primarily sheep at that. The face and ringleader of it all, the disgraced ex-mayor Dawn Bellwether." The video focussed in on an old interview, the small ewe talking calmly and confidently about her plans.
"Well I think we need to manage these risks. It's a scary time for everyone, prey and pred, and we need to do what will make it safer for the most of us. In terms of schooling, it's true that integration brings mammals of different types together, and it breaks my heart to think about splitting them up. I do applaud the effort of teaching staff to put in place alarm systems and drills in order to manage it all. However, the risk is still present, as seen yesterday when a teacher turned. Thus, we are looking at it further."
She paused as a mammal put their hoof up. "The savage cases don't seem to affect children. Surely then any separation could be limited to just the pred staff?"
For a second, Dawn paused in thought, and all mammals watching in the future got a grim chill running down their spine as the corner of her mouth twitched upwards in the way one might get if they had a good idea. "Well, it's too early to say that children don't get it just yet," she clarified, "but it's worth planning just in case anything changes. After all, children are our future."
The whole thing paused for a second, D-Baa Dude speaking out. "You know, she played almost all the cards there. Still, she didn't do the classic 'blame the teachers' did she?"
It cut to a new interview, Dawn again speaking out. "The fact remains that this disproves the idea that children can't get it. From what I gather, the seal in question was restrained and dealt with quickly and safely, but who knows what will happen when a bear or tiger gets it? In the interests of safety, segregating predator and prey in the education will be something that will be given heavy consideration."
A paw came up from a female panda bear. "You earlier claimed that the expensive and offensive provisions you previously put in place were good enough. Yet now, you claim they were pointless as you have to go further."
"-Well those alarm systems and drills were put in place to help catch the first case if it did happen," Dawn interrupted, her brow furrowing. "It's like how we put in place provisions to stop school shootings after the epidemic in the states started, even though our gun laws should already be strict enough to stop it. -The net did its job in reducing the risk for now, but if more cases start the higher the risk is of things getting through. Thus the need for a fool-proof solution."
The reporter was not impressed. "So this solution offended and scared mammals for little to no reason?"
Neither was Dawn. "I can't see what's offensive about trying to protect children from a brutal death."
"For a start, the totally pointless illustrations on the alarms, showing a snarling feral wolf. What is the justification for that?"
Dawn smiled. "Well, we need clear iconography, don't we? Maybe, had we had more time, we could have designed something more discrete, but this was an emergency, and something universal was needed. It potentially being offensive is probably a fair trade off, given that hurt feelings are far better than hurt wounds."
"Why not just write 'Savage' on them?"
"What if a recent immigrant is the first to see a mammal going savage?" Dawn countered, "or one with dyslexia or a learning difficulty. Mistaking symbols and words may seem trivial to you, but it's caused terrible things in the past. Case in point, mercury doped wheat seeds developed by scientists under Norman Boarlaug, designed to protect them from fungi while germinating, were once distributed as aid. Instead of being sowed, many mammals ate them, not understanding the skull and crossbones nor the pink warning colouring applied. In fact, they actually marketed their 'pink bread' as a novelty. A snarling, savage wolf may not be the most tactful representation of a savage, but it does its job where it truly counts. Keeping our children safe."
She was met with a round of applause, the reporter not amongst them. "And what about your plans to segregate schooling. Are there even the facilities to do that?"
"No," Dawn admitted. "But we are looking into innovative solutions, such as remote learning from home, naturally hosted by the predator teachers. Indeed, the more I hear about it the more I'm convinced it should be standard for all predators in these trying times. After all, what better way to keep these poor predator children and staff safe from savage attacks?"
"I have heard reports from predator teachers that there aren't enough of them, nor enough resources, to properly implement this plan."
"Ah, well, certain teachers often get attached to the old ways of doing things and their unions can often stonewall against any type of innovation. But these are trying times for all of us, we must all adapt and overcome, and despite their protests that counts for them too."
It all paused, the video cutting back to D-Baa Dude, sitting at his desk and looking over a piece of paper. His eyes widened and he jumped up. "Bingo!"
The joke managed to earn a chuckle from all those watching, being an easy score against someone they all despised. They carried on watching as his smile then faded as he looked at the camera. "You all may think of the Nighthowler crisis as this terrible event that consumed the city, yet the reality was arguably far different." Those who had previously looked at him now shared a sense of disbelief at the absurdity of that. However, it faded as he carried on. "Over one hundred predators were ultimately darted, and while a large number of them and bystanders were seriously injured, only one mammal died. Her name was Bailey Tonto, she was a mexican wolf who was darted midway through the crisis and, in the howler induced state, charged a bus and was dragged under the wheels. In fact, accidental deaths declined during the crisis, hospitals became less busy and intensive care wards began to empty out. Why, well, let's check the news reports for that one."
And so it flashed on again, showing the terrified news reports describing the savage crisis. It showed the savages, it showed Wassermaim being himself, it showed reports and protests, calling for quarantines. "The entire reaction to this was incredibly overblown, painting the city as a war zone, whereas in reality the smaller number of mammals being out in the open led to a natural decline in more standard accidents."
Back in Yakatomi plaza, Haida nodded. "Well, yeah, as we were terrified. We didn't know if this was the day we might turn."
Catano meanwhile remembered how she'd been scared, especially early on, that this might spiral out of control. No-one knew what was causing it, and where it might end; it was so unlike anything else, of course lots of people would worry and think the worst.
"Meanwhile," the ewetuber continued, "most scientists were arguing that it didn't look like a viral infection, and that the most likely situation was contaminated food or medicine. But did the media state this?"
Another round of extreme clips played, before it cut back to him. "Nope," he shrugged. "In fact, they did worse than that, right from the start." And then it cut back to a video of Judy Hopps and her press conference. "Right at the start, a speciesist cop, one specifically hired by Dawn Bellwether for 'diversity'..." It cut back to him, giving an aside glance and talk to the camera "not actual diversity, mind you, their fake version of it." Back to the press conference, as Judy uttered her words about biology. "-Planted the seeds that it was a fundamental defect in predators."
Tsunoda snorted and nodded in agreement, while Haida and Retsuko shocked their head; they had figured long ago that Judy Hopps didn't really mean what she'd said, and had spent plenty of time trying to make up for it. She was not the rabbit she was being presented as. Something Catano agreed with. After all, this completely missed out the fact that Judy did apologise, live, for her mistake (a mere pressure induced verbal slip), right after solving the entire case. That was the kind of level needed from that Honey Badger to even begin to be considered for forgiveness, even when severely discounting the level of evil that she had done. Despite that though, she couldn't help but feel a bit irritated at the bunny. For all her apologising over her slip up there, she'd very much taken an 'if you're not with us you're with him' approach to her.
Regardless, on D-Baa Dude went. "For all the talk about being past this kind of speciesism, the entire establishment was all too happy to body-pile onto it. Indeed, it fell to the vilified activists to spread the real news." It then cut to a split screen, a grey bunny in one corner and a map showing the various cases mapped out and traced in the other. What he was saying was muted, given that Baa Dude was talking over. "-Heck, after building a ewetube career on straw-mammal populism and anti-feminism, our old bunny friend here actually found something his 'I AM A SCIENTIST' title applied to, and tried doing something helpful." It cut back to the sheep, giving the same hushed up aside to the audience. "Though don't tell him that. Besides, he still didn't get it right. Unlike Anton Pounceheart, who was persecuted as he not only stood up for predator rights, but worked out the truth behind the crisis and actually began planning protests!"
Again, the crew back in Yakatomi plaza nodded on in agreement, while Catano paused. She didn't know anything about that bunny, and little about Pounceheart. But she did know that he had briefly allied himself with Gruinard Gal. In any case, that badger would have likely argued the same thing, 'the sheep were behind it.' And, were that the case, it wouldn't mean that her getting it right counted for anything, did it? After all, the sheep felt the same way about that bunny and Judy.
"And here we come on to the big rub," Baa Dude carried on. "You may claim that it was just a few bad sheep, that it was just the upper, upper classes, and so on and so forth. But they took the lid off of this. And that means there was stuff to let out. An awful lot of stuff. These prejudices, in a way, existed deep down in far, far more mammals than some would lead you to believe. From those who went out to commit hate crimes, to those who tried to isolate themselves from predators, claiming that they were scared. Arguably, almost all of us were speciesist to some degree against predators back then, and those mammals up top levered that to hurt the predators. As said before, we haven't grown past these prejudices. Not by a long shot."
"Yup, I feel it there," Haida agreed quietly. He remembered all those looks he'd received, all the times smaller mammals had seemed to have stepped away from him. And dammit, he'd always been a bit self-conscious about his snaggle teeth. One night, after almost having a spray pulled on him, he'd got home, got drunk, and after looking up the cost of corrective dental surgery looked up how much he could sell his beloved bass and equipment for. Thankfully he'd fallen asleep and been able to have a deeper think about it after. A long conversation with his parents, including a fair bit of guilting about how they hadn't given him it when he was younger and it was much cheaper, resulted in half of the funds being provided (something immediately rescinded when 'the urgent need' was removed). His savings could cover the rest, but wanting to keep a buffer in case he lost his job, he'd decided to get a proper valuation on his stuff. He'd been halfway to the Peace Rock Guitar Co-op in the Rainforest District when the news about Bellwether being the mastermind swept through the carriage.
Catano though shook her head. After all, she herself had been scared. Pred and prey, young and old, she'd heard about some predators handing out sprays to each other in case they turned on their own loved ones. Yes, the media really fanned the flames, but of course everyone was scared. And suggesting that prey were bad because of that?
She thought back to Maisy, and how she said her self-hatred of her species was right, because that was what 'the people who are experts' said was right. She remembered what her old partner had said about that skunk, pitching scent gland removal to his own species. Her fur bristled and a stray fang furrowed over her bottom lip as 'Chapter 3: Kurt Wassermaim' began.
The background changed to a new room, with a lectern placed in the middle. Suddenly, running out from the side, came 'D-Baa Dude', dressed in a hippo costume. "No, no! Actually, you'll find it's the prey who are oppressed! The pred's minority inclusion in everything is too large too! They should be limited to ten-percent of everything, conveniently enough to stop them from changing anything, and any more is an evil act of prey genocide!"
It flipped again to show him dressed as normal, offering a counter argument. "What about the hospital admissions during the savage crisis, huh? Should they be limited to ten-percent then?"
Back to his Wassermaim impression, he frantically looked around for a few seconds before pointing off in the distance. "Look! There, uhhhh… -Anarchists! Professional protestors! Treasonous sneaky foxes, like Anton Pounceheart, or a naughty schoolboy!"
And then it was back to the regular sheep, looking down and cradling his head in his hooves as part of a breather. In Yakatomi plaza, the three watching mammals were chuckling from the parody, whereas Catano…
"-That literally makes no sense…" She meant it. After all, limiting the predator admissions to ten-percent would literally mean turning most of those caught up in the howler crisis out onto the streets with their injuries. And yes, she knew how he meant it, but that wasn't to do with society or anything. It was solely down to the fact that the masterminds were specifically targeting predators, who were often around other predators, which naturally meant that they were the most injured. Meanwhile, she'd already dealt with the whole mess that was prey underrepresentation the day before, and her feelings had not changed there.
Baa-Dude carried on regardless. "As said before, the general medical consensus was that it was contaminated food, with some researches even making the link to night howlers and requesting that blood work checking for it be done, although they were thinking that some of the bulbs had gotten mixed up with onions being shipped to a food factory or something. It's a logical and realistic prospect which easily explained the at-random cases and it has a precedent. After all, the tremors that sparked off the Sablem witch trials were most likely caused by fungus infected rye. But did the mass media lean this way and report it fairly or, seeing that it was preds, did they happily play up the savage card that the prey majority were all too eager to lap up?"
Once more, the infamous clip from Judy Hopps' press conference played, all which Catano face pawed. "Sablem involved lots of puritan sheep! They were literally hung!"
"-Of course, it turned out to be something far more malicious and, though Dawn Bellwether and Doug Ramses were arrested, what they brought up did not want to go down."
And then it cut to a series of pictures, showing a mix of 'Bellwether Truthers' being displayed, along with all their arguments about how she was framed by the ZPD, the preds, by Nick and Judy and so on.
"Good," Retsuko said. "He does acknowledge what Judy did do."
"Only just," Haida pointed out, before his eyes narrowed. "Just look at those speciesist freaks, huh?" He let out a shiver. "How many are there out there?"
"Enough in the dark pits of the internet," Tsunoda commented, paying idle attention. "But literally everyone else knows they're sad jerks. After all, we're not dumb. Just shallow."
Catano meanwhile just nodded her head. She'd dealt with this kind of mammal in person.
"-But," the sheep continued. "There is one that got away. He probably wasn't the figurehead, although he's grown into that now. He was the hate sink. He was the useful idiot. He was the one who distracted everyone with his cartoonish violence while Dawn and co did their much more harmful and insidious work behind the scenes."
Retsuko's eyes opened. "I… That's why she had him."
Haida nodded. "Pretty smart plan, huh."
Even Catano was mildly impressed by the theory, she'd just presumed he was a sycophant or something, and had she and everyone else just been played like that… Though then again, while he had a lot of guilt by association, a thorough investigation hadn't produced any evidence that he was truly in with it. He likely was, but from a legal perspective there was nothing.
Her musings went on as Baa-Dude then began going on a whole eye-bulging, overacted, name calling rant. "-big tub of lard, trying to laugh off the all stuff he does as he jacks off to the sound of destroyed pred lives, he probably squirms with joy on each conviction and doubly so on each false one, he laughs at the simple fact that he's still able to do this and good god I know you were trying to let his term limits run out or so but this is what we have revolutions and guillotines for!"
Catano's brows furrowed. Yes, this was being played up for the camera, trying to attempt the ironic viewing that Ben had for the Gruinard Gal channel or something. Yes, it was also… really not funny, coming across like an alien who'd learnt about mammality from a textbook trying to do an 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it' rant. Was this just for him, or did he really think that there were any mammals who'd enjoy it?
Meanwhile, back in Yakatomi Plaza, three mammals were grinning, two of them having chuckled and whooped at it all.
Regardless, Baa-Dude calmed down, and looked into the camera. "Sorry about that, I just really needed to say all those probably truthful things about him. Get it out of your system, you know? As they like to say, 'tell it as it is', you know?"
"I know," Catano grumbled. "You called him everything short of a Nazi."
"-Anyway," he then said. "Let's talk about Nazis."
A black title screen came up. Chapter 4: Let's talk about Nazis!
And then it was back to D-Baa Dude. "Nazi's like lies too. After all, they got their name by calling themselves socialists."
A barrage of air horns screamed out as the image flashed orange and red, the sheep wearing black shades and shooting finger guns. Haida couldn't help but smile. "Okay, now that's starting to get somewhere."
"Really?" Tsunoda asked.
"-Well, I'd personally use a different finger gesture for a start."
"Oh… A more puerile one?" she scoffed.
"Ahem, the most puerile one," he boasted, as the video cut back to normal.
"I…" Baa-Guy began, before giving a shrug. "-Kinda always wanted to do that. -Anyway, there are two famous types of lie that they made famous: The big lie and the repeated lie. The first, as written by Adolf Hirschler, is the idea of creating a lie so big, so stupendous, that people think no-one could ever dare distort the truth so much. -Case in point, I'm a black sheep! Look! It's there for all to see, I'd have to be crazy to lie about that! And then there's the second type. As said by Joseph Geweihs, repeat a lie enough times and it becomes the truth. Now, these two can actually fit together perfectly. Not just create a big lie, say… -trickle down economics. But repeat it enough times that many people actually believe it. Now, Kurt Wassermaim is known to tell the truth, right… Right?"
And then all watchers looked on as they were exposed to another supercut of Wassermaim bluster and speeches, all cut to the bunny hill theme. Those in Yakatomi plaza smiled at the simple put up of their mutual enemy, but Catano… It was more an errant thought at first, but the more she began to think about it the more it hitched her mind up. By all means, Wassermaim was unpleasant and very likely prejudiced. But as for strictly lying… He was stretching the truth, but with how much she knew about the case, he wasn't specifically going over that line, was he?
And there was something else that worried her too.
Repeat a lie enough times and people would believe it, and D-Baa Dude was repeating the idea that Wassermaim continually lied a lot… -wasn't he?
The sequence finally ended, as the sheep carried on. "Another big similarity in tactics, his entire worldview is painted as an us versus them. A good guys versus the bad guys. They are out there and they are powerful enough to destroy us, but if you believe in me we have the strength to wipe them out! And he works his base too, pushing each and every button he can find, saying each and every literal and metaphorical trigger word, all to stoke them up and kick them into a frenzy!"
"Et tu, Dude-us?," Catano quietly asked.
"-And there is one word that, recently, he's been using more than any other."
And then another supercut played. All of them involving a three letter word beginning with F. With both sets of viewers, things got quiet. Haida and Retsuko's ears went down as they remembered the young mammal they'd met for just a little bit, confused and scared but then walking off bravely to his fate. The red panda remembered why she'd started watching this video in the first place and shook her head; get those selfish thoughts out of there and remember who this was truly about. The large grey-brown paw that came in to hold her own helped. Catano too remembered the young fox, swearing to herself that she'd push harder. She had to find who did this, who wanted him in prison so much they framed him, and bring the true mammal behind this whole mess in to pay for his or her crimes.
The montage ended, Baa-Dude looking out. "Why are foxes hated so much," he said, shrugging. "I don't know. Nobody knows why they got such a maligned reputation. Some nasty mammals will then say that they had to earn that reputation some way which makes their treatment of them okay. But you don't have to do anything bad to be hated. Heck, those that try and explain it or come up with some rational reason to explain the hatred, other than the simple hatred it is, are doing nothing but helping, most likely knowingly and intentionally, to legitimise the bad guys."
A black screen flashed up for less than a second. Catano didn't notice it, but those at Yakatomi Plaza did. "What was that?" Retsuko asked.
Haida's head cocked. "It was some name beginning with J… -Beaverson.'"
Regardless, the video and Baa-Dude carried on. "I mean, Armyeenia and Armyeenians have an entire history of being hated by everyone, for literally no reason. Millions were killed a hundred years ago, and when people try and remember that genocide, this happens." The video cut to a phone-recording from somewhere in France, a mob of protestors holding turkish flags marching down a street, throwing objects and chanting. While in french, some were subtitled in english. 'Where are you Armyeenians.' 'This is Turkey now.' 'This is for Mufasa the Great!'
It then cut back to the sheep. "Can we all agree that that's wrong. -Not just the fact that the name Armyeenia has nothing to do with hyenas and is just a coincidence, with the only hyenids actually there being striped hyenas, thus meaning there's no possible connection to the African King Mufasa or Shenzi Kalani. Can we all agree that that's stupid? It's insensitive, it doesn't make those mammals look strong or anything. It just shows that they're fragile, and are lashing out rather than, or maybe even because the alternative is, accepting that they are the bad guys here." There was a pause to let it sink in, both groups of watching mammals silently agreeing. "Well it's the SAME WITH FOXES! That's what Anti-vulpites look like. That's what those who deny the terrible things done to foxes, for no reason, look like. But, all these years later, we can't grow up, can we? No, we can't. Because too many mammals still hate preds, maybe a lot of hate, maybe just a little, it's too much either way. We live in societies designed around that hate and benefit off of it, and just like those protesters there, we, most of us in fact, deny that. And we lash out at foxes because they're often too small to be a violent threat, after all anything larger than a hare could beat them off, and so we say they hurt us with their mind, with tricks, and so on! Through no fault of their own, they've been given the label of the vilest species out there, something that many of us crave to hear! And, instead of being one of the real sneaky and conniving mammals who hurt others, Wassermaim just comes straight out with it, no filter. And those who've had to stay quiet can't get enough of that."
The hard statement hit all the watchers and, as it sank in, Tsunoda tapped the two others she was with. "This bit's for you."
Chapter 5: Let's grow up.
"So," he summarized. "Back to Zootopia. Home of 'The Greatest Skyline in the World'." The background changed to one of the city's famous night-time vistas. "-Home of Gazelle, and the beautiful big lie that is 'anyone can be anything.'" Catano's ear tweaked at that and, as he then introduced the climate works and districts, she began blinking as a set of text began rolling up over the images: 'Spending trillions of dollars so mammals can heat or cool their homes far more to battle off the chilled or heated outsides.' 'You do know mammals elsewhere just deal with it?' 'The world's biggest energy user and waster(TM)!' 'Heating and freezing giant areas while the planet is already burning!' 'Don't even think about what it's doing to the Ozone layer!' 'Throwing all sorts of weather chaos down the line for 'mere plebs' to deal with!' 'Did I already say that the planet is burning!' 'The mere thought we'd not be so ludicrously wasteful.' 'What do you expect us to do? Help stop our extinction and fight poverty? Ha, the very thought! Bootstraps!'
She gawked at it. "That… -We have our own dam to power that, with clean energy! It was made to use up spare energy with no other use at the time and it's the world's greatest engineering marvel! What does tearing it down even have to do with this?" She didn't even mention that studies had shown it helped boost much needed snowfalls further east, or that it had continuously been using the cleanest refrigerants available. Instead, she watched on, her brow furrowed as he carried on talking about her city…
-and then said "Not that this doesn't apply to literally everywhere else."
"So then why do that 'back to Zootopia' thing if you were going to do that? Or do you just want to spite us or something?"
He didn't answer, instead looking forward and speaking. "We need to always be aware of what they are trying to do. We need to know that these lies are out there, and we always have to be ready to fight them back! And the other side will have apologists, there will be those 'enlightened centrists' who ask us to break halfway, oblivious to the fact or full well knowing that you can't do that with evil." He took a breath in and out. "They will paint innocent and victimised mammals as an evil power that you can righteously wipe out. They will paint you as the oppressed and victim, asking you to join them and help save yourselves. After all, why do you think Wassermaim is pushing the whole 'Ovinophobia' angle?"
And then it cut again to another montage shot, showing Wassermaim's mentions and claims about Ovinophobia. Back in Yakatomi plaza, Haida and Retsuko breath a sigh of relief before their ears folded back, waiting for the strike. Catano, meanwhile, had mixed feelings but pushed through them. After all, it made sense that Wassermaim was using this whole issue, serious as it was, as a distraction to his real aims, didn't it?
"As I said before guys," Baa-Dude said. "Just grow up. Seriously, it's embarrassing to us. Are you called a chomper or a savage?"
Catano blinked. "No you idiot! They call you grazers or cud munchers or other stuff!"
"Has someone ever flinched at you?" he carried on. "Has someone ever brought out a spray at you?"
Maybe they didn't flinch or have sprays, but they stared them down and peddled wool clippers and such. She'd seen it with her own eyes!
"Did certain countries try to wipe you out?" he continued. "-Not because of your religion or allegiance -simply as you were a sheep! Were you targeted by an organised conspiracy via what's effectively chemical and biological warfare?"
"Gas weapons were used against sheep towns in the middle east!"
"Was your type so brutally wiped out in a country, that even after its liberation, shockingly OPPOSED BY THE WEST, that those few who survived were too few to sustain their culture and had to be emigrated out to join their diaspora!"
Catano's ears tweaked. Wait. He couldn't be talking about…
"Do you know how many tigers were left in Cambodia after Pol Pot-Bellied and the Kohmer Rouge were driven out? How many, when there were forty-thousand before he seized power? How many, excluding the diaspora, survived four years of his pred-murdering rule and the killing fields? Six. Six! SIX!"
Catano's paws flattened on the table, her mouth open. It wasn't just that Pol Pot-Bellied was put into power by those same 'liberators', while the States and West had supported those who'd opposed them… Millions of prey had died in that horror. Yes, preds had been annihilated, but that was because the killings were against those seen as elite in the most spurious sense! Not just preds but teachers, intellectuals, large mammals period, foreigners or any peasant that fell foul of a rumour or showed free thought. Heck, they murdered anyone who wore glasses!
"And as for the so-called 'oppressed' sheep at the same time? Less than a hundred."
"It's a tropical country you idiot!" she facepawed. "Those were probably all the sheep they had!"
"No. Come on, grow up, we are not oppressed!"
Catano raised her paws up, giving a vacant look around as if there were an audience out there she was begging to differ.
"People are smart, but many are not smart enough," Baa-Dude carried on. "-Thankfully, most mammals will know all of this. Most are sensible. We know that this talk of systematic sheep hate is nonsense. We know that those guys especially have things against preds, and those who try and claim they're in the middle and that the bad guys or such are actually against prey, case in point Wassermaim, are the nastiest and the pred hatiest out of the bunch! And hey, to borrow their favourite phrase, that's me telling it as it is!"
Back in Yakatomi plaza, Haida and Retsuko sighed with relief. "See," Tsunoda said. "Oooh, me the shallow vapid Instagrowler says these random folks are speciesist as they're seen with sheep haters and did karaoke… Do you honestly think mammals are that stupid?"
"Well, we kinda did," Haida pointed out.
Tsunoda's eyes narrowed, only for Retsuko to chip in. "Still, I'm kind of feeling dumb now. Thinking we were being set up as the real victims in this. The real victim is Kris, and that's what we've got to remember, isn't it Haida?"
"Yeah," he agreed.
Tsunoda blinked. "Who's Kris…"
The other two froze, sharing a nervous glance at each other, before Haida spoke. "Well…"
"-He's the anonymous vulpine," Retsuko cut in, breathing in and out. "A friend of a friend, who we know didn't do it and is only being persecuted as he's a fox. And so we're going to help them, as much as we can. Because that sheep is right, those foxes have it hard, and we have to do the right thing and help them fight back!"
Meanwhile, the video carried on, Catano still watching it, getting more incredulous by the second. "-This is what it is, but we all know it. The thing is, the lies are starting. It can start as a joke: hehehe, better not let yourself be outfoxed. Then a cruel joke: hey, watcha think the skulk works are up to? And then, before you know it, the lightest of the lies start coming in. And it's downhill from there. The only way to fight this is zero tolerance. You can't work or debate with them, they don't believe in good faith. You have to attack and bring people back to normal the second they start toying with these dangerous ideas, because it can easily become too late. Anyone can turn from a normal person to one of these brainwashed deplorables, who make these jokes or go around claiming that protection should go to all mammals equally, and then they take advantage of you wanting to give ground and push forward. "
"But the lies have started," Catano almost shouted. Dammit, they'd started ages ago. And the cruel jokes and the cruelty had done too, it was already going down hill. And she had been doing zero-tolerance, had been trying to bring mammals off from the top of that slope, and she'd been ridiculed for it. Heck, it was his own species and he was treating them as if they deserved it! As if they had original sin or something. And maybe now sheep still had it better than the foxes and preds, but that was no excuse to let it go into the same freefall he'd been warning about. The right thing to do, to help as many mammals as possible, was to try and stop all of it to all species! And yet saying that, according to him, made her one of the bad guys!
She slumped back into her seat and cradled her head. This mammal… Her eyes narrowed. For all he complained about Wassermaim, she had the feeling he was a lot closer to him than he wanted to think. Her mind flicking back to poor Maisy and the awful things she'd been believing about herself and her species, and she couldn't help but wonder. Was this ewetuber the kind really peddling this stuff, creating it for whatever reason? Believing sheep should view themselves as the bad guys, the less worthy mammals, those needing punishment, because he thought it was truly needed to make the world a better place? Or was it greed or self hatred or something else? She thought back to that skunk, who'd caused so much damage and hurt to his own species, and she couldn't help but imagine D-Baa Dude in his place. Selling out his own kind, and convincing others that he was okay, because he was one of them and could speak for them all.
Or was he also like Maisy, only he'd truly swallowed the pill and become one of the brainwashed… -She wasn't sure what to really call them.
"There is only one way to fight this," he carried on. "You need to understand that those against you can't be reasoned with, they are gone, but, good news, their opinions about the foxes being sneaky and the sheep being under threat don't matter! So, you don't have to give a sheep about them or what they think. You just need to see the world as it actually is, stop thinking about your own species for once, and be ready to fight against the power and privilege that shape this world into the brutally unfair place it is."
And, funnily enough, Catano, thinking back to the things her old superior had told her after his encounters with that skunk and how he'd reacted, completely agreed with Baa-Dude.
Just not in the way he intended.
She closed the lid of the laptop and her eyes narrowed. She was not a bad mammal. She could see how Wassermaim was a terrible mammal, and how terrible the idea that Baa-Dude was peddling and Maisy was being tortured with was. Her fur bristled thinking about it, and those who preached it. She thought back to that other fox, Ash… He said he was grilling Maisy for Kris, but he'd also been watching Gruinard Gal and trying to convert Agnes… How far down the slope had he, had they, gone?
Rubbing her head and taking a breath in and out, she focussed herself. After all, from her interview of him, she was pretty sure he didn't do it. After all, the original call was against him! So, unless he was double bluffing or something…
Then again, there were the comments from Beavis about him, about the vixen too… But could those be believed, after all her little fishing had seemed to disprove what he'd said about Maisy… Though then again, he didn't say she talked to that weasel, just that she was sort of going towards him. She might have been but never went the full way, or…
She needed a new opinion on this.
On all of this.
A viewpoint that could clarify and prove or disprove, that had been in the middle but not questioned about it specifically.
Her eyes widened, just as Oates came into the room. Up she shot. "Detective?"
"Ye-up?"
"I want to interview the father again about his son's relationships at the school. We then need to borrow him and a squad car for a road trip."
"Huh? Now why's that?" he asked.
"There's a young silverfox I want to interview again."
.
.
AN: Again, I'd like to thank Dobanachi. His circa 2005 Fox-Away advert was just TOO PERFECT not to stick in (though the 'other indian foxes' was something I added on). As I've tried to plug a few times before, check out his fic L'EDgendary and give it some love.
As said before, this was an interesting chapter to write, and went on much longer than I anticipated. So, I enjoyed writing but I'd be curious to know what you thought of it. As said before, your feedback is both appreciated and listened to.